Betraying the Empire
by C. Mayhew
Summary: This story revolves around Myron and Anya. Two Stormtroopers tasked with assaulting Hoth, a cold rebel controlled planet. Myron, unlike most other Stormtroopers feels no hate for the Rebels. He feels his want to fight for the Empire fade. But one action by the Empire will make him rethink everything.
1. Chapter One - Before Hoth

C. 12/28/2015

 **Chapter One - Before Hoth**

"Myron, wake up it's almost time to head out." Said a feminine voice as I felt two fingers jam themselves into my side.

I groaned and turned on my side. "Myron! Get up the Commander is about to address us!" The voice said again.

I opened my eyes to see Anya. Her green eyes wide and staring into mine, her blond hair was tied back into a ponytail and her face had a mix of relief and anger in it.

" Hey good-lookin'." I said teasingly to her as my eyes adjusted to the light.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. She was wearing her standard non – combat clothes, a gray sweater and black pants, and she was walking over to her bunk which was across from mine.

"CO's comin'." She said over her shoulder.

She was referring to our Company's CO Andrew Hayter. Hayter was a good leader. We took orders from him, he took orders from Hux, Hux took from Vader and Vader took from The Emperor. I sat up on my bunk and stood up. I turned and pulled my duffle bag out from under the bunk, I opened it and took my toothbrush and toothpaste out. I turned for the lavatories, Anya was in between me and it. She wasn't facing me as she bent over to rummage through her bag. Now that she was bent over, her butt was facing me. I had stared at it before, to be honest, Anya was a very pretty girl. She was my age, 19, and was always a good friend of mine since we trained and studied at Carida. I had trained with this girl and been in a few fights where she backed me up. We liked each other as friends, but would jokingly flirt every now and then. Now was going to be one of those times. I stared walking to the lavatories and when I passed her I gave her butt and firm, quick pat. Needless to say when I did her head when right up. I looked down at her and grinned. She shook her head and sorta blushed.

"Thanks" she said and she chuckled. "I'll get you back for that one" She added, not looking up. I grinned and kept walking.

"I'm looking forward to it" I said over my shoulder.

I walked past other troopers waking up and others talking to each other. I walked into the lavatories. Zety was in there, brushing his teeth and looking half alive. He has jet black hair and stood a 5"8' like me. His eyes are dark blue. I walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Come on, man! Look alive, we go out today!" I said, he just shook his head and kept brushing.

Him and I were good friends, but it looked like his mourning was not going well, so I let him be. I walked to a sink and turned it on to rinse my brush. I looked up at the mirror. I found my reflection looking back at me. My green, gray eyes stared back at me. I have semi long brown, wavy hair.I stand at 5"8'and a medium build and a fare, partly tanned face. I rinsed my brush, put a glob of toothpaste on it and started brushing my teeth.

" _We leave for Hoth today, shit, I'm just hoping we all come back_." I said to myself in my mind. Knowing I was going to be wrong, one of us was probably gonna die " _I really don't care about the rebels, don't really hate them like others do. But then again, I never met one._ " I, again, said to myself in my head. I finished up brushing and rinsed the brush again, put the cap on my toothpaste tube and walked out of the lavatories. Zety was already gone when I left, I saw him chatting to our buddy, Mox. I walked to my bunk to find Anya sitting in it, I tossed my brush and toothpaste tube in my bag and sat next to her.

"Something on your mind, hun?" I asked.

I called her "hun" I know, I call all the girls in the platoon hun, it's just something I picked up from my family. All but one girl understood that, and didn't mind it. But I never did it in front of a officer.

"Just a little bit on edge, I mean Hoth is bitter cold, it's the first time we're going into combat." She said looking down. I put my arm around and brought myself closer to her.

"It's alright, we're all a little on edge, in one way or another. It's normal, who ever says they're not scared in a lier. We're gonna be fine, heck we gotta be. And don't worry, I'll be right on your butt the whole time." I said smiling at her.

She picked her head up and put it against my shoulder.

"Thanks Myron, that means a lot. And hey maybe if we get out of this alright, maybe, I'll let you see that butt you've been eyeing up forever" She said looking up to me, grinning.

I looked her, and grinned back. Like I said, she was pretty as heck. I moved my arm down her back. She put a hand on my knee and moved in up my leg.

"Not now, maybe one day" She said before she punched me in the gut.

I reeled forward from the punch and bend in half.

She laughed at me and said "Told ya I would get you back!"

I recovered and laughed too. "Nice one" I said between laughs.

She had only started walking over to her bunk as Hayter walks in. "Alright men!" He yells as he comes through the door. Everyone stands at attention and salutes him. "At ease" He says.

Everyone's attention goes to him. "We have reports of thick rebel opposition from our scouts. We also have reports that the rebels have a large ship, Vader wants us to eliminate it. He has given us two AT-ATs that will follow us in, we must defend those AT-ATs with our lives. Now the rebels will almost surely have X wings and Airspeeders. They also have turrets and anti-air guns so be warey. The scouts have reported a large string of trenches and a hanger cut into a mountain. They also have uplinks that we need to keep offline to protect the AT-ATs. Pick up your winter armor from the quartermaster and then wait for more instructions. We'll be at Hoth in two hours "

We were on a Destroyer and were ahead of schedule if the two hours was to be believed. Hayter finished his speech and then left the barracks.

Anya turned at looked at me, shock and terror griped her face. "Did you hear that? AT-ATs, X-wings, trenches, turrets?!" She said to me, she talked fast and her tone made her seem scared out of her wits.

I walked over to her, putting my hands on her shoulders I looked her in the eyes. Her eyes were big and wide.

"Anya calm down, hun. Remember what I said? I'll be on your butt the whole time, we'll be fine, trust me" I said, staring deep into her.

She sighed and put her arms around me in a hug, I did the same. "Thanks again, Myron. I'm sorry, I'm getting emotional. But I signed up for this! I'll pull through, thanks." She said sincerely.

I gave her a squeeze and let her go, she smiled and moved a strand of hair out of her face. "Come on, let's get geared up" She said turning to walk over to the quartermaster's station.

I followed and got in line with her. A guy named Murdoc was in front of us, behind me was Mox and Zety. I turned around to talk with Zety.

" Hey man, important mission, eh? Think we'll get out alright?" Zety asked me.

"Yeah, it is important, whole rebel base on the thing, and don't worry we'll get out of there fine." I replied

"Myron, we're next" Anya said before placing a hand on my shoulder, I shrugged at Zety and turned around.

"Alright" I said as Anya turned to the quartermaster's desk.

"Hey Anya, what's your size?" The quartermaster said, his name was Morton if I remembered correctly.

"Small" Anya said. Morton went to the back room and brought back a box filled with armor. "Give the box back when you get all the armor on." Morton said. Anya took the box and walked to the side on the line, waiting for me.

"Alright Myron, medium right?" Morton asked when I stepped up to the desk. "Yup" I replied. He went to the back room again and came back with another box.

"Same thing as Anya, bring the box back." He said, I gave a quick nod and walked over to Anya.

"Got everything?" She asked and I gave a nod. "Let's head back to the bunks then" She said as we walked back to the barracks.

As we went we saw more troopers, some in armor others with their boxes. I waved to a few I knew and we soon got to our barrack, K Barrack. and to our bunks.

"Oh, great, the stupid body glove. Man this thing is a pain to get on" I said, taking the skin tight suit out of the box. It was basically a onesie that kept you cool in hot places and warm in cold ones.

"Yah, you got point there. I'm gonna go into the bathroom, get undressed and slip this on." She said taking her body glove out of the box before staring off toward the girl's showers.

"I gotta do the same" I said heading over to the guy's showers.

The guy's and the girl's bathrooms were next to each other, all that divided them was a metal wall. Anya want out of sight when she passed the wall for the girl's side and I walked into men's side. I walked inside and there were a few guys already in there. One or two had their body gloves on the rest were undressing or already undressed. A few were in the showers. I spied a pantless Mox trying to figure out how the glove goes on before he got fully nude.

I walked into a corner and started getting undressed. I took my pants and shirt off, folded them and put them in a dry sink. I took my underwear off and put them on the pile too. I wrapped the body glove around it all and picked up the bundle. I stepped into one of the shower stalls. I opened a little box bolted to the inside of the door and took the dry towel inside out and put the bundle of clothes in then the towel back in on top. All the shower stalls had these. It was to keep a dry towel inside and keep your clothes from getting wet as you showed, so you didn't have to walk around naked or with a towel around you till you got your dry clothes from your bunk. I turned the shower on and waited for the water to get hot. As I waited I thought about the mission ahead of us. Land on Hoth, keep the AT-ATs alive while keeping uplinks off, eliminate all rebels as possible, then blow up this huge ship they had. What fun. I also thought about Anya. She was strong, I knew that, she was also pretty level headed. She was scared today and most likely will be again when we land. But I have full confidence in her, Zety, Mox, Hayter all the men and woman would do their jobs to the best of their capabilities. Including me, I hoped. When the water got hot I picked up the bar of soap and started scrubbing myself. Knowing this was my last shower till we got off Hoth.

I scrubbed my body and washed my hair. My shower lasted about 20 mins, till my hot water ran out. When it did I turned the shower off and dried myself with the towel. When I was done I stuck it back in the metal box and took my body glove and regular clothes out. I stepped out of the stall and sook the body glove out from around the clothes bundle. I hated getting the body glove on and off. Thing was so annoying, it didn't have a zipper so you have to put your legs down the torso and into the leggings, then pull the thing up and put your arms in the sleeves. I always thought the damned thing would tear. But I did it, adjusted it to fit a good as possible and fixed the neck. Like said the thing was skin tight, but you could still move in it at least. When everything was comfy I grabbed my clothes and walked back into the barrack.

When I got to my bunk Anya was there, wearing her body glove that showed off her curves and figure. I started walking over to her, her hair was a little wet, so she had taken a shower too. Wish I was there.

"Sorry if I stare" I said when I reached her. She chuckled and shook her head and looked me up and down.

"Same here, now could you help me get some of this armor on?" She said as she bent over and rummaged through the box. I walked to my bunk and stuffed the clothes bundle into the duffle bag and slipped in under my bunk. Then slyly went over to Anya, placing myself behind her while she was bent over. She got what she needed help with out from the box. It was the chestplate, top and bottom parts. She already had the stuff that goes under it on she just needed the chestplate, arms, legs, hands, feet and helmet.

"You help me and I'll help you" She said holding the pieces of armor up.

"Alright" I said taking the chestplate from her. I pressed the front plate against her chest and wrapped the back plate around her till it met with the other side and clicked. I kept my hand pressed against her chest as I put the front torso part on her crotch.

"You're just keeping a hand on the chestplate so you can feel me up aren't you?" She asked.

"Maybe." I said back as I finished up with the crotch plate as I'm calling it.

"Well cut it out, Myron, your cool and we're friends and all but tone down the flirting and touching stuff, alright?" She said, her tone a little more serious than usual.

"Alright, sorry, guessed I overstepped my boundaries" I said, sincerely. I respected Anya, she was my friend and was very capable and strong. She's also one of the nicest people I've met. I would tone it down. All I had to do was remember. I took my hand off the chest plate and stood up.

"It's alright, not saying stop it all together but tone it down. I know you're not a pervert or anything so don't worry. You're a good guy, really, Myron" She said, smiling up at me. She stood at 5"5' me 5"8'

"Thanks, Anya, that's nice to hear from you. Also refreshing and a little mind easing." I said looking at her, smiling a sincere smile.

"Mind easing? What do you mean?" She asked, a flash of worry in her face.

"Oh nothing, just sometimes I wonder If I really am a good person, I usually tell myself no, no you haven't lead a good life. That I should be a better man" I said my face growing a little long, but perking back up a little bit after. The smile was like a mask. I worried often, questioned myself and the Empire often. Never aloud mind you. Never to other people. Not till now, I guess I really did trust Anya.

Anya caught me by surprise with a hug, a real, sincere hug. I hug her back and she puts her head on my shoulder.

"Your a good man, Myron. Honest." She says, he arms still around me.

"Thank you, Anya. Thank you. Your a really good friend, a really good person." I say as I hold her closer to me. You know how some people say when you hug someone you can sense then and your heart beats sync up? I could sense Anya stayed in each other's embrace for a little while longer. Anya loosened her grip on me and I did the same to her, we let go and she let out a little laugh.

"Can you finish up with my butt plate?" She asked, a little blush in her cheeks.

"It would be my pleasure" I said back, I could feel my cheeks get hot. She turned around and I crouched down. I fashioned the butt plate to the rest of the armor and it gave a little click. I didn't do any dirty stuff. When the plate clicked I stood back up and Anya turned to face me. She had a smile on her face.

"Thanks, the torso is a pain to click on, lets get yours on" She said as she walked over to my box. I put all the under armor stuff on then she picked the chestplate, crouch/codpiece and butt plate.

"Alright hold still" She said as she pressed the chestplate against my gut and wrapped it around me. Then she fastened the codpiece to me, her face almost a shade of tomato and then put the butt plate on. When everything was clicked together she stood up and faced me.

"There you are, all armored up" She said

"Thanks a million, Anya" I say, she smiles and walks back to her bunk sits on it and starts strapping the leg parts and arm parts on. I do the same. Between getting the armor, showering, gearing up and returning the boxes. We had spent a hour and a half, meaning we had only a half hour till we reached Hoth. The troopers mulled around the barracks, waiting. Anya and I's gear was all squared away. I was laying in my bunk with my eyes closed when Anya came around.

"You awake?" She asked, I popped an eye open and looked at her.

"Yup, just thinking" I said back. She sat down on the foot of my bunk and leaned on the pole the held up the bunk above me. The bunk above me belonged to Zety. I sat up against the back of the bed, and looked at her. The light cast little shadows across her face, but still lit it up nicely. Her beautiful blond hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her calming green eyes staring off into the distance.

"Penny for your thoughts" I said looking at her. She chuckled and said

"Remember that time at the academy when me and you watched that Imperial parade? When they had and Stormtroopers marching with the AT-STs and AT-ATs? Remember doing that same march a year later?... It seemed like only yesterday to me. I can't believe we're going into combat.

"Penny for your thoughts" She ended with.

"I'll sell 'um for a dollar. But really nothing much, or nothing that really needs to be discussed. I am thinking of how pretty you are. And of how we're going into combat." I said. It was true I was thinking about combat, and Anya. She scoffed, scooted over and put her legs up on the bed.

"Someones gonna die, Myron. Someone is going to die." She said, her tone sad and melancholy.

"People die every day, even more when in war." I said, my tone matching hers. "Rebels are gonna die too, for what they believe. They're die for a cause, we're die for the Empire." I said.

A loudspeaker crackled to life. A female voice addressed us. "All Stormtroopers in K Barrack get into uniform and make your way down to the landing ships, your company CO will address you there and. We are entering Hoth's atmosphere, best luck to you all" Everyone grabbed their E-11 blasters. I put my Scout Pistol into a holster on my belt, the pistol was small but deadly at close range. We all put our helmets on and got into formation. We marched to through the hallways a corridors. We passed a officer at a explosive dump. He handed two thermal detonators to each person. When we got to the hanger bay Hayter addressed us.

"Alright everyone you all remember that plan? Keep the uplinks off, defend the AT-ATs. Kill the rebels." He said. Everyone nodded. "Alright, get on those landing ships and let's face the fire." He said before signaling for everyone to march into the landing craft. Everyone got on, Zety was to my right and Anya to my left. Hayter walked in after us and radioed the pilots to take off. We were the first wave. The ship's engines powered up, the hatch closed and we were off. Flying toward Hoth, a cold, horrid planet, crawling with rebels and the soon to be graveyard for some of my friends. And I was only 19.

 **End Of Chapter One.**


	2. Chapter Two - The Rebel Girl

C. 12/30/15

 **Chapter Two – The Rebel Girl**

The ship zoomed out of the open hanger of the Destroyer. There was limited vision of the outside, me being in the middle of three rows of troops I could see a little bit of Hoth through the pilot's window when I turned around. It was blue and white, like a marble I use to have. The ship sped closer and closer to the planet, that's when we started getting hit with flak and enemy fire. At first it was light, then it picked up till it rocked the ship by the force of it hitting us. A few men fell over or crashed into someone else from the flak's force. Anya slammed into my side after some flak hit the side of the ship. We both recovered only for Zety to basically headbutt the back of a trooper named Danny's helmet. The whole trip took about 4 minutes.

"Contact light" One of the pilots said as we touched down on the planet's surface. The ship settled on the ground as enemy fire really picked up. Hayter yelled for the pilots to open the hatch and then get out of there. The large metal hatch went down slowly, when it hit the ground Hayter yelled for us to get moving and find cover. Everyone scrambled off the ship. One guy who I would later find out to be Mox, me and Zety's friend, was the first to be shot when he ran out of the ship and got a blaster shot to the middle of the chest. He fell dead on the ground and people just stepped over him, me, Anya, and Zety included. Once I got my feet onto the ground I waved for Anya to fallow me as I sprinted for a snow covered hill that got us out of blaster fire. The two times I looked behind me to see if she was following she was right on my heels. We reached to hill base and I hit the deck and aimed my baster for the hill's top. A rebel, dressed in white clothes with a strange thing on his head appeared, running down the hill right for us. I aimed for his chest and let three shots off. The shots connected and he threw his blaster into the air and tumbled to the ground. His body rolled down the hill and stopped next to me and Anya. I looked around for other troopers. I saw some also at the base of our hill and some others near a ridge further up. The little ship we arrived on was heading for the sky, I saw some other in the sky, one was on fire and it picked up speed till it nose dived right into the ground and exploded. The explosion flew bits of dirt, metal and snow up into the air and it rained back down.

I looked back up the hill and saw that it was where most of the fire aimed at us and the ships was coming from. I heard Hayter yell for us to sound off. Me and Anya yelled our names. I heard Zety, Danny, Tania, Rachel, Hanson, Murdoc, Emily, Zoey and Vassili yell out too.

"Alright everyone, we need to take this hill alright?" Yelled Hayter. "Up the hill! Up the hill!" Hayter yelled as he got up and and waved for everyone to go. Me and Anya stood up and started running up and hill along with everyone else, I saw Hanson ahead of us slip and tumble down the hill only to punch the ground when he stopped and sprint after us. The top of the hill had trenches dug into it with a uplink in the middle. Two anti - air guns also sat up there. Three rebels opened fire on our little group when we reached the top, two guys and a girl. Two shots landed on a trooper and they fell forward into the trench. I un holstered my scout pistol and shot it into the chest of the middle rebel, he flew back and slammed into the trench wall behind him. Anya fired three shots at the girl, one connected with her forehead and she crumpled into a heap. The last rebel fired a shot and went into a troopers leg, the trooper let out a feminine scream and tumbled to the deck. I saw Hayter kick the rebel in the head. The rebel fell down and Hayter stood on his chest. Hayter was not a small man, or a weakling. Hayter brought the butt of his blaster down onto the rebels head five times, leaving it as a mess of blood and skull fragments. After he did he turned to me, he didn't wear a helmet like the rest of us, it was so we could identify him. His eyes were fiery as he yelled for me to pull the injured trooper into the trench and help them.

"Aye, Sir!" I yelled and ran over to the trooper laying on the ground, holding their leg. I stuck my blaster into its holster on my belt and pulled them into the trench. When we were in I removed their helmet. It was a trooper named Tania, her face was twisted in pain. He blue eyes were tearing up slightly, from the pain I assumed. Her red hair blowing slightly in the breeze that went through the trench.

"Tania! It's me Myron, look at me!" I said looking into her eyes. "Look at me, you're gonna be fine, alright? You're gonna be great okay?" I said trying to calm her down.

"How's she doing, Myron?!" Hayter asked me. "She'll be fine, sir" I said looking up. Hayter looked over the trench and put a hand to the side of his mouth. "Medic! I need a medic over here!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. A medic jumped in a few seconds later.

"Where's she hit?" He asked fast. "Her leg" I said. The medic ripped the leg armor off her and threw it over the side of the trench, it had a clean hole through it. "Talk to her, keep her calm" He told me as he went to work on her leg. I looked down to her and put a hand on her cheek.

"Look at me, Tania, you're gonna be fine, docs gonna patch you up. Keep your eyes on me you're alright okay?" I said looking down at her. "Am I gonna die? I don't wanna die" She said, her face showing she's in a lot of pain. My heart felt like it had just died a little, I think it did when she asked me if she was going to die. "No, hun your not gonna die. Don't give up on me here, hun! Stay with me here!" I said, still looking at her nodding while the medic worked away. "Alright get her outta here, she'll live. Go!" The medic shouted. I nodded and looked over the trench, a ship was just about to land. "Alright, Tania. I'm gonna get you up and we're gonna get to the ships, you just lean on me." I said hoisting her up and getting her out of the trench.

I put her arm around my shoulders and I put my arm around her back. "Walk with me, just lean on me" I said as we made our way to the landing ships. She limped and put her weight on me. We walked over to one of the landing ships. It unloaded some troopers, one saw me and rushed to help. Together we walked her to the ship. The pilots told us to load her up and quick. Me and the other trooper put her in a seat, I crouched eye level with her. "You're outta here, Tania, I'll see you again okay?" I said, trying to reassure her. "Thanks, Myron" She said putting a hand on my shoulder. "We gotta get outta here!" A pilot said. I took her hand a squeezed it. The let go and walked off the ship. I saw it pull the hatch up and fly away. Tania was out of the fight, she might even be going home but she was out of the battle. Gone the first day.

I turned and ran back to the hill. When I got to the top I jumped into the trench and took my Scout Pistol out and searched around for my team. I ended up finding them turning the uplink station off and holding the rebels off. I put the Scout Pistol away and took my E-11 out. I started looking around for Zety or Anya. I found Zety first he was the one turning the uplink off.

"Where are those AT-ATs?!" He asked when I tapped him on the shoulder. "I don't know!" I yelled back. I looked over the trench and saw rebels on the other side. I took my blaster and shot at them. One of them fell into a heap, I guessed I had killed him instantly. Anya found me holding off the group and threw one of her Thermal Detonators into their trench. I heard commotion and a large explosion. When I peeked back over to where the rebels were there was a big black smudge all over the area. An arm was lying on the ground about fifty feet away from a girl rebel lying motionless in the snow on her chest. Her back was blown apart, you could see her spine and bits of what I could only guess was her flesh were all around the area. Her right foot was also missing, and her short, bleach white hair blew in the wind. Her blaster was about five feet in front of her. The scene almost made me throw my helmet off and vomit all over the ground.

I snapped out of it and looked over to Anya. She was just staring at the corpse. I put my hand on her shoulder and shook her out of her trance. Hayter yelled for everyone to go forward and clear the hill's trenches.

"Anya, follow me" I said when Hayter was done, Anya nodded and I took my Scout Pistol out. I started walking through the trenches. A few rebel bodies were strew about the trench. I turned a corner and found a rebel crouched, waiting for me. I pointed the pistol and him and fired. He fell back but fired before he did. The shot caught me in the chest but glanced off and and went into the trench wall. The power of the hit made me fall back and into Anya. She and I both fell over and onto the ground. We scrambled to get back up. When we found ourselves on our feet again I turned around. A girl rebel turned a corner and saw us standing there. Neither me or Anya had our blaster. The rebel, probably thinking she could capture us sprinted toward us. I dived for my Scout Pistol. I picked it up and fired. The shot hit the girl in the thigh. She dropped her blaster and fell forward with a scream. Since I had dived she landed on top on me. I put my hands on her chest and pushed her off before I grabbed my blaster. In the commotion my helmet must have fallen off. I aimed the blaster for the girl's head. She put her hands up. Her face was a mix of pain and fright. She looked to be my age, her hair was red and her eyes were blue, like Tania.

"What are we doing with her?" Anya asked. Her blaster now aimed at the girl now too. "Get on your knees, rebel" I said. "Get on your knees!" I yelled now.

I grabbed her collar and pulled her up to her knees. She screamed as I did. Now she was on her knees and her hands were up.

"Anya, hand me the pistol" I said.

Anya grabbed the pistol and gave it to me. I pointed at the girl's head. It would be so easy to kill her. "Please, don't" She whimpered. "Give me a good reason not to!" I yelled.

She recoiled a bit. My face grew a little long from it. I had killed today but, I didn't like it. "Because you're not a killer, you really don't want to be here, trust me. We've killed your friends but you've killed ours too!" She said. She was right too. This girl doesn't deserve to die.

"I'll show you mercy, rebel. Where can you go where you can be evacuated?" I said. She pointed over the hill and to a cliff where a hanger was cut out of the ice and rock.

"Over there" She said weakly. I picked her up by her collar and twisted her around I pushed her to the end of the trench. She hit it and it went up to her belt. I pressed myself on her, my crotch pressed into her butt.

"Please, no" She said, her hands still it the air and her voice small. Her face was a same shade of red as her hair. "I better not see you again, your lucky I'm showing mercy to you, girl. I could kill you or do worse. You do something good with your life, you hear me?" I said, my tone menacing and harsh. She nodded. I let up on her and jumped out of the trench. I took her hand and helped her out of the trench, the pistol still aimed at her. "Keep your hands up and walk into that little base, you hear me?" She nodded. I gave her a slap on the ass, she jumped and she started limping toward the cliff. I jumped back into the trench and walked toward Anya.

"Lets meet up with Hayter and rest of the team." I said. We started walking back to the uplink. We walked through the trench were Anya had thrown the Thermal Detonator. There were four dead rebels counting the girl topside without a back. There was one guy with a blown out chest and one arm, one where the detonator blew his legs off. The last on was a guy that must have been killed by the concussion, his body was in almost perfect condition, but he was dead. We found Hayter and the rest of the group at the uplink. When he saw us he said that Hux told him to hold his team here and that the valley below them was captured by some of our company. The hanger would have to wait till tomorrow and to find a buddy to bunk with that night. Anya and I decided to bunk with each other that night. Emily was with Murdoc. Zety was with Zoey. Rachel and Vassili were together. When the sky grew dark that night me and Anya decided to talk with some other people. We walked over to Zety and Zoey first.

"Hey Zety, how did you fare?" I asked when we reached him. "Fine" He said. "Who did we lose today?" I asked.

"Hanson, Danny, Tania and Mox" Said Zoey. Her helmet was gone too, her blue eyes a brown hair lit up by a lamp in the middle of them. She was sad, I could tell. "We lost Mox? Shit, man" That was a punch to my heart, Mox, Anya, Zety and I were all friends. Mox was always the one to take challenges and try new things. Zety nodded, Zety was probably the closest to Mox. I patted him on the shoulder and sat down. Anya sat next to me.

"Myron saved a Rebel today" Anya said when she sat down. "Saved?" Zoey asked.

"Showed mercy to, I shot her in the thigh and let her go, shes probably be taken out of combat already." I said, defending myself. "Why would you ever spare a Rebel?" Zoey asked. "Not every Rebel is horrid and needs to die Zoey" I said. After a long, heavy silence I said "Sleep well, guys" before walking away. I could feel Zoey's eyes burning into my skull. I heard Anya sigh as I walked back to our spot. I sat down and stared up at the sky. Rachel and Vassili joined me. Vassili was probably the most philological of all of us. Me right behind him if you ask some people. Vassili had blue eyes and short brown hair. Rachel has blond hair and hazel eyes. Me and Rachel had a history. Like a lot of people in the company, we knew each other from the Academy. Close to graduation day everyone went out to a little bar and got drinks. We'll I got drunk and was hitting on all the girls according to Mox. Well I found out later I was just hitting on Rachel and Tania that night. Tania didn't fall for me that night but let's just say Rachel did. Tania and I would get hooked another night but that's something we swore to each other not to talk about, since I like Tania and the fact she was injured today I won't talk about that but let's finish this story with saying me and Rachel screwed that night. And it was awesome. Since then me and her and drifted off and don't talk much. Rachel sat next to me and Vassili sat across from us.

"So Myron, I heard you spared a Rebel today." Said Vassili. "Yeah, I shot her in the thigh and decided to show mercy. She was our age." I said back. "Not all rebels need to die, I'm glad you see that, Myron." Vassili said smiling at me. We sat there for a while, just enjoying each other and the silence. When Rachel and Vassili left Rachel offered that if me and her lived through tomorrow she would bunk with me and we could relive a night from the Academy. I gave her a maybe. A few moments after they left Anya joined me. She sat next to me and put her head on my shoulder.

"Why did you let her go" Anya asked. "Let who go?" I asked. "The Rebel girl" She said flatly. I sighed

"Because she didn't deserve to die, she wasn't a bad person. She was fighting for what she believed in." I said back, staring into the darkness. "Some people think you're a turncoat" She said.

"Let them think what they will. Anya, I think if I did join the rebels Vassili would probably follow me. Rachel might, Zety most likely would. Mox would have, as with Tania. Emily and Zoey would not. Murdoc maybe or maybe not. Hayter is in that group of maybe maybe not." I said. Anya looked up at me. "What about me?" She asked. "I don't, Anya, would you?" I asked, still staring off into the middle distance.

"I don't know." She said, joining my stare into the middle distance. I put my arm around her and brought her closer to me. "I hope you would" I said. It was true, If I ever left the Empire I hoped she would follow. I was recruited by the Empire, I didn't join up. If I hadn't been recruited I might have joined the rebels by myself. Anya was one of my best friends, her, Zety and Mox. Now Mox was dead, along with Danny and Hanson. Tania was injured and is on the Destroyer. We were probably going to get replacements tomorrow.

"Let's get some sleep" I said, my mind and body needed rest. "You be big spoon, I be little spoon." Anya said as she lay down on her side and in the fetal position on the floor of the trench. I lay down next to her and put my arm around her. It was awkward with the armor but it was nice to lay down with her and have my arm around her. Just you be next to her and have someone I knew next to me was nice, after the shit I saw that day, it was better than nice. We both fell asleep shortly after that.

 **End Of Chapter Two**


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